What will we have?

Matthew 19:23-30

Jesus then said to his disciples, “I assure you: it will be very hard for rich people to enter the Kingdom of heaven. I repeat: it is much harder for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.”

When the disciples heard this, they were completely amazed. “Who, then, can be saved?” they asked.

Jesus looked straight at them and answered, “This is impossible for human beings, but for God everything is possible.”

Then Peter spoke up. “Look,” he said, “we have left everything and followed you. What will we have?”

Jesus said to them, “You can be sure that when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne in the New Age, then you twelve followers of mine will also sit on thrones, to rule the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or fields for my sake, will receive a hundred times more and will be given eternal life. But many who now are first will be last, and many who now are last will be first.

Food for thought!

Today's gospel reading begins where yesterday's stopped (Matthew 19:16-22). Peter and his disciples must have looked at yesterday's young man go away until he disappeared in the distance. And as he went, Peter's mind must have been working hard, and, characteristically, his tongue could not stay still. He had just seen a man deliberately refuse Jesus' «Follow me!» He had just heard Jesus say in effect that that man by his action had shut himself out from the Kingdom of God.

Peter could not help drawing the contrast between that man and himself and his friends. Just as the man had refused Jesus' «Follow me!» he and his friends had accepted it, and Peter with that almost crude honesty of his wanted to know what he and his friends were to get out of it. Peter's concern is our concern: we sometimes do wonder, if there is any recognition for us for having accepted Jesus as our saviour, for having followed him on a daily basis, for having gone to church every Sunday or every day for some, for taking time to pray, for avoiding evil and doing good, etc. What is our reward? What’s in this for us?”

Jesus says that no man or woman ever followed him for nothing. Jesus is saying that those who follow him have a definite advantage both here and in the hereafter. Here, they have the advantage of a counsellor; after they have the advantage of a Saviour. Jesus reminds us all that God is not indifferent to our efforts; he is saying that God sees; that God notices; that God records and rewards every sacrifice that is made for him and because of him. Jesus reminds us that what we have walked away from might seem like a lot, but God has far more in our future than we left behind in our past. Jesus is saying that we cannot beat God with generosity, we cannot outperform God in giving.

When Jesus speaks of «100 times», he simply means that it is more than you can imagine. He is not saying that if you give a dollar, he will give you one hundred in return. He might, but that is not the point! He is simply telling us that He has far more for us than anything we could ever give up to follow Him.

A caveat!

Jesus adds one warning epigram: «But many who now are first will be last, and many who now are last will be first.» This was in reality a warning to Peter. It may well be that by this time Peter was estimating his own worth and his own reward and assessing them high. What Jesus is saying is, «The final standard of judgment is with God. Many a man may stand well in the judgment of the world, but the judgment of God may upset the world's judgment. Still more many a man may stand well in his own judgment, and find that God's evaluation of him is very different.» It is a warning against all pride. It is a warning that the ultimate judgments belong to God who alone knows the motives of men's hearts. It is a warning that the judgments of heaven may well upset the reputations of earth.